Effect of High β-Glucan Barley on Serum Cholesterol Concentrations and Visceral Fat Area in Japanese Men—A Randomized, Double-blinded, Placebo-controlled Trial

Abstract

This study investigated whether the consumption of a diet in which high-beta-glucan barley replaced rice would reduce the visceral fat area as well as the serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and total cholesterol (TC) in hypercholesterolemic Japanese men. A randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled intervention study was conducted in 44 hypercholesterolemic Japanese men with a body mass index (BMI) >22 kg/m2. The subjects were randomly assigned to groups consuming either rice (placebo group) or a mixture of rice and pearl barley with a high beta-glucan content (test group, 7.0 g beta-glucan per day) for 12 weeks. Blood samples were taken, and CT scan obtained before the trial and every four weeks during the trial. The pearl barley intake significantly reduced serum concentrations of LDL-C (P = 0.041) and TC (P = 0.037) during the trial. Significant differences between the test and placebo groups were found for the visceral fat (P = 0.039), BMI (P = 0.015), and waist circumference (P = 0.011) at the end point. The consumption of pearl barley with a high beta-glucan content reduces not only LDL-C but also visceral fat area.

Beta-glucan- or rice bran-enriched foods: a comparative crossover clinical trial on lipidic pattern in mildly hypercholesterolemic men

“…The protective effects of dietary fiber against cardiovascular disease (CVD), mediated through a reduction in serum lipids, were first reported 440 years ago by Keys et al (1960); later research led to the dietary fiber hypothesis proposed by Burkitt et al (1974) and Trowell (1975) that states that a high intake of starchy carbohydrates and fiber is protective against CVD. Many trials showed a hypocholesterolemic effect of an increased intake of fiber from cereals, such as barley, rice and oats; the active component in barley has been identified as beta-glucans, which reduces serum total cholesterol by 5-10% (according to Anderson, 1987;McIntosh et al, 1991;Shimizu et al, 2008;Talati et al, 2009) and by 20% (according to Behall et al, 2004), although not all studies (Keogh et al, 2003) showed barley beta-glucans to be hypocholesterolemic.…”

β-glucan from barley and its lipid-lowering capacity: a meta-analysis of randomized, controlled trials

“…On the other hand, many Western countries now only use barley predominantly for animal feed and malting. However, there has been renewed interest worldwide in barley as food due to its many health benefits, including its potential in reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease via cholesterol lowering (Behall et al, 2004a, b;Keenan et al, 2007;Shimizu et al, 2008), and improvement of glucose tolerance (Pick et al, 1998;Behall et al, 2006;Hinata et al, 2007). The active ingredient thought to provide barley its health benefits is b-glucan.…”

“…To date, a number of studies have been carried out to test the efficacy of barley or b-glucan derived from barley as cholesterol-lowering agents. However, some studies have demonstrated no benefits (Keogh et al, 2003;Biorklund et al, 2005), whereas others have shown reductions in plasma lipids (McIntosh et al, 1991;Li et al, 2003;Behall et al, 2004a, b;Keenan et al, 2007;Shimizu et al, 2008). The varying results in human studies may be due to factors such as dose size, food matrix, type of intervention, background diet and subjects' characteristics.…”

Effects of Fermented Barley Extract on Antioxidant Status in Mice

“…There have been several reports demonstrating the beneficial physiological effects of barley on lipid metabolism in animals and humans (Oda et al, 1994;Yang et al, 2003;Ikegami et al, 1996;Behall et al, 2004;Shimizu et al, 2008). With respect to the animal experiments, many studies concerned themselves with high cholesterol and high-fat food, but few reports evaluated the long-term effect of barley on lipid metabolism in animals given a diet of ordinary nutritional composition.…”